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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22701775">The kind of love (I've been dreaming of)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/'>Anonymous</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>(between azu and hamid. zolf is there but doesn't participate in the sex), (if that applies to rqg too), Do Not Archive (The Magnus Archives), Fluff, Multi, Non-Graphic Smut, Reunion Sex, Sex Neutral Zolf</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 11:48:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,472</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22701775</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Hamid and Azu are kissing.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Zolf Smith/Hamid Saleh Haroun al-Tahan/Azu</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Anonymous</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The kind of love (I've been dreaming of)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hamid and Azu are kissing. They’ve been kissing for a while, slow and flirtatious. They’re in Zolf’s bedroom, a tidy, simple space, and the afternoon sunlight pouring in through the windows is bathing the bare wood walls in warmth. It casts Azu and Zolf in golden light on either side of Hamid, and he’s still seeing the dark, damp stone tunnels from the mission he just returned from every time he closes his eyes, but this is going a long way to banish it. </p>
<p>Hamid’s hair is damp. Zolf had run him a bath the moment he’d returned, and Hamid had scrubbed the cave slime from his skin until it hurt. Afterwards, Hamid had wandered the island until he found Zolf and Azu lying in Zolf’s bed, Azu reading a Campbell aloud as Zolf lay next to her, eyes closed. Azu had handed the book to Zolf and reached for Hamid as soon as he’d appeared in the doorway, and Hamid had gone gladly into her arms. </p>
<p>So now they’re kissing, and Hamid is finally starting to feel warm again. Azu’s eyes are so, so soft, and Hamid knows his hair’s a mess and that there are too many bruises under the fresh clothes Zolf had given him and that his makeup is definitely smudged, but in that moment he decides that he doesn’t care. He doesn’t care about any of it, now that he’s here and he can hold Azu and kiss her until she sighs softly after every touch. There’s a warmth that suddenly fills Hamid’s chest and rests there, gently aching. He thinks it’s love. He takes Azu’s hand in his, and hides his face in her shoulder. </p>
<p>From behind Hamid’s shoulder, he hears Zolf put the book down on his knee. “You guys enjoying yourselves there?” he asks, gentle amusement colouring his tone. Hamid turns to smile radiantly at him, and Zolf’s face creases into a smile in return. </p>
<p>“We are,” Azu says. “Would you like a kiss, Zolf?”   </p>
<p>“If you’re offering,” Zolf says. </p>
<p>“I am.” </p>
<p>Zolf leans over Hamid, who takes the opportunity to snuggle down further under the covers. The memories of crawling alone through dark tunnels, the stone catching at his skin and his breathing scarily loud in his own ears, gradually start to sneak back in, so he distracts himself by watching Azu kiss Zolf. They both seem unable to hold back smiles, and after a moment they just rest their foreheads together. Zolf’s eyes are closed, but Azu doesn’t seem to be able to tear her eyes away from Zolf’s serene expression. </p>
<p>He loves them. He’s loved them for such a very, very long time. </p>
<p>Zolf pulls back, and presses a kiss to Hamid’s cheek. He’s about to leave it at that, but Hamid makes a wounded noise so Zolf stops and kisses him properly. Hamid clings on, arms around Zolf’s neck, so Zolf holds him tight and says quietly into his ear “You’re okay. It’s okay now, you’re safe.” </p>
<p>Hamid melts against him. “I missed you,” he mumbles. </p>
<p>“Missed you too, Hamid.” </p>
<p>He sees Zolf exchange a protective look with Azu over his head. He lets go of Zolf and sinks down into the blankets again, ignoring the way his bruises sting. He’s suddenly very aware he’s still in his jacket and shirt, twisted up where he’s lying, so he begins to try to slip out of layers without actually sitting up. Azu takes pity on his struggling, and starts to help.</p>
<p>“Now, now,” Zolf says. “In my bed?” </p>
<p>“We can go somewhere else, if you want,” Hamid offers lightly. “You just happen to have the biggest bed…” </p>
<p>He’s joking, but the offer is serious. He knows that Zolf knows that. They’ve had their share of misunderstandings, him and Zolf, but they’re getting better. Much better. This one, particularly, they’re good at by now. </p>
<p>“If it bothered me, I’d go read in the living room,” Zolf says, waving his hand. “Go ahead. Why don’t you just magic your stuff off?” </p>
<p>“Now,” Hamid says, fumbling with his shirt buttons, “Where’s the fun in that?” </p>
<p>“Don’t ask me,” Zolf says dryly, “But I’d imagine it’d be getting naked some time this year.”</p>
<p>“Fuck you, Zolf,” Hamid tells him, still struggling. </p>
<p>“Shut up, both of you,” Azu says with a laugh, and pulls her shirt off over her head. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Hamid’s warm. That’s always the first thing Azu notices, every time she touches his skin. They’ve done this before, in spare moments between disasters, even before she realised she loved him. Hamid liked being touched, Azu liked to touch, first it was a tidy solution, and then it was more. </p>
<p>Then they’d run into Zolf, and Azu had held Hamid close in the cell for seven days, and he’d told her in whispers when Zolf was asleep what Zolf had meant to him. What, it had turned out, he still did mean. </p>
<p>Azu was a Paladin of Aphrodite, she wasn’t prone to jealousy. In fact, she’d always liked sharing, and they’d fallen into their new routine easily. But she hadn’t been expecting to learn to love Zolf, too, not in the way that she had. But somewhere along the line she had, and now she was here, in Zolf’s bed, with Hamid in her arms. She wouldn’t, she decides, change this for the world. </p>
<p>Zolf’s always warm, too, but he’s warm like stones on the beach, warmed by winter sunshine. Hamid is warm like he’s running a fever, like he’s burning up from the inside, like there’s a fire under his skin trying to consume them both. He’s burning, now. He slings an arm around her shoulders and tucks his head under her chin. She can feel his breathing, shallow and a little uneven, on her bare skin. </p>
<p>He makes an impatient little noise. He always gets like this, when they fuck, a little clingy, a little demanding. She never minds. </p>
<p>“What do you want?” she asks. </p>
<p>“Hold me down?” he asks quietly. “I don’t— I don’t want to <em>think,</em> right now—” He sounds slightly desperate, so she kisses him again, softer. </p>
<p>“I know,” she says, “Ssh, I know. We’ve got you, my love.” </p>
<p>She’s gentle, because she knows Hamid likes gentle. He likes to feel cared for, and gods, Azu cares. She rests her forearm across his chest, pushing him back into the pillow, and dips to kiss him. Hamid’s sigh is audible enough that his cheeks start to burn. Azu just smiles. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Azu’s breathing is quick, jagged. Hamid’s still held beneath her, and his head is tipped back against the pillow, face blissful. His eyes are shut, but there’s bronze reflecting across his cheekbones, down his neck. She doesn’t think he could stop it if he wanted to. She glances over at Zolf, who’s watching her watching Hamid. </p>
<p>“He’s beautiful,” he says. Hamid makes a noise suspiciously like a whimper. </p>
<p>Azu goes for a light hearted response, but then Hamid reaches down and move his fingers just <em>right</em> and what she breathes instead is “You’re home, Zolf, you’re— oh, you’re safety, and—” </p>
<p>Zolf looks away, down to the book in his lap. There’s pink right across his face, and she knows it isn’t because of the sex. Zolf isn’t easily embarrassed, or interested, by that kind of thing. But tell him you love him… </p>
<p>“I mean it,” Azu says. “Oh, Aphrodite, <em>Hamid</em>...” </p>
<p>“I love you,” Hamid manages. He sounds wrecked, and it’s not clear who he’s talking to. “I love you, I love— tell me I’m good, tell me—” </p>
<p>“You’re so good,” Azu promises him. “You’re good, you’re—” </p>
<p>“We love you,” Zolf says. “We’re yours and we love you, Hamid, now and always.” Azu notices that he’s still not making eye contact, and then she’s too distracted to notice anything much, except the way that Hamid feels beneath her. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>When they’re done, Azu’s glowing pink. Hamid casts a quick prestidigitation, and flops back onto the pillows, and the pink light diffuses through the room like a nightlight. </p>
<p>“What’s that?” Hamid asks. </p>
<p>“It’s an Aphrodite thing, I think,” Azu says. She doesn’t <em>feel</em> any different from usual. Well, other than the whole <em>just had glad-you’re-alive sex</em> thing. “It happens sometimes. When I’m really happy, or really in love.” </p>
<p>Hamid smiles at her. Zolf’s still staring determinedly down at his book, but he looks up at Azu then. </p>
<p>“Did you mean it?” he asks, and he sounds something on this side of shy. “What you said about… me.” </p>
<p> “Of course I did,” she says. “I love you. You make me feel safe.” </p>
<p>“I— Oh.” </p>
<p>“Is that okay, Zolf?” </p>
<p>“Yeah, it’s more— It’s more than okay. I— Can I hug you?” </p>
<p>She just holds her arms out, and Zolf hugs her, tight. She hugs him back, and it barely takes a breath for Hamid to join them.</p>
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